Memorial Day Weekend Rides

[indysteel]

DH and I did 50 hilly miles at the Horsey Hundred in Kentucky today, and we're doing another 50 tomorrow. It was a perfect day here for a ride. I'd really like to go back to doing the full century next year, but we just didn't have enough miles in our legs for it this year.

[azfiddle]

Arizona summer temps are here (100 and above) which means you have to wake up early if you want to ride! Went to sleep at midnight last night after celebrating the high school graduation of a friend's daughter and the alarm at 5 am was not welcome... DH said "It's my birthday, I'm sleeping in" so I headed off alone for the Sat group ride. We rode through town to the base of Mt. Lemmon and then about 5 miles up the mountain - 36 miles, and about 2300 feet of elevation gain. I actually passed 3 people on the climb... not from my group though I don't mind the steady climb- but I am quite the slowpoke.

Wind gusts up to 40 are on deck for tomorrow starting at 6 am, so I'll probably take today off and ride again Monday.

[KathiCville]

I did my longest ride of the year today: 39+ miles, on a beautiful rural route that I had never ridden before. My longest ride this year before today was 26 miles so I was a little nervous about whether I could go the distance without holding up my much faster BF. I surprised myself by staying pretty strong from start to finish, 'though my average (as usual) wasn't anything to crow about (12.8 mph). Nonetheless, a gorgeous day, terrific scenery, satisfying ride, and a perfect excuse to snarf down a yummy gyro on the way home.

[emily_in_nc]

Today was our market ride, and we had a LOT of places to stop. Here's where we went:

- farmer's market
- food co-op
- Trader Joe's
- Performance
- Great Outdoor Provision Co.
- Whole Foods

19 miles total at a VERY leisurely/urban pace (10.7 mph average) With all the stops, this was a long ride -- left home a few minutes before 9 am and didn't get home until after 1 pm! One thing that slowed us down a lot was a bike path by a creek that we didn't realize had flooded yesterday in the heavy rain. The water had receded, but there was leaf/branch debris and mud all over the (paved) path. A couple of places we had to get off and walk (VERY glad we were using Eggbeater pedals and not our old Speedplay X-2 -- the cleats would not have liked the muddy conditions at all). Kind of an adventure!

[owlice]

I got in one whole mile yesterday, just around my block once and up and down the street, and got the bike into the shed and me into the house before the sky opened up and dumped a lot of rain. Great lashing winds, thunder and lightning, too; it was magnificent, though I had really hoped to get in 12-14 miles last night.

Today, 20 miles on the trails; my legs felt like lead when I started. I finally hit a great groove... at mile 18. Oh, well, at least I finished strong! I then got in another 5 while I waited for my kid at a Metro station -- yes, that's five miles in the ginormous parking lot at the Greenbelt Metro, past hissing geese with their goslings in the lot's grassy islands and through the empty outer lots and the Kiss-and-Ride.

On the trails, I got hissed at by another goose out with goslings, saw a rabbit, plenty of red-winged blackbirds and (ugh) cowbirds, and heard a peewee crying from the woods. The water lilies are budding, so will be blooming soon, and oh, the honeysuckle!!

[Catrin]

DH and I did 50 hilly miles at the Horsey Hundred in Kentucky today, and we're doing another 50 tomorrow. It was a perfect day here for a ride. I'd really like to go back to doing the full century next year, but we just didn't have enough miles in our legs for it this year.

Sounds like fun! NEXT year I hope to do this, it just wasn't in the cards for me this year. It looks like it has great SAG support.

[skhill]

DH and I did 50 hilly miles at the Horsey Hundred in Kentucky today, and we're doing another 50 tomorrow. It was a perfect day here for a ride. I'd really like to go back to doing the full century next year, but we just didn't have enough miles in our legs for it this year.

I meant to get up early this morning and make the short drive up the interstate to do the Sunday Horsey ride.... didn't happen. Maybe next year! Funny that it's our local ride, and I've never made it...

[indysteel]

I meant to get up early this morning and make the short drive up the interstate to do the Sunday Horsey ride.... didn't happen. Maybe next year! Funny that it's our local ride, and I've never made it...

Where do ypu live? DH's family is in Frankfort, which is one of the reasons we do the ride every year, but I did it before I met him, so perhaps it was fate! It's a fun ride. I prefer Sunday's routes because they're less crowded. It was hot today though. Really hot! Mmaybe we'll see you next year!

[azfiddle]

Ivorygorgon, the Palomar ride looks beautiful!

I didn't plan to ride today, but it was still relatively cool and calm at 7 am. So I snuck in a ride before the sun and wind combined to for adverse riding conditions. I rode 18.5 miles out to Saguaro National Park, and took a longer route home that took advantage of the brisk and rising winds. The last part o the route is slightly downhill but with the tailwind, my average for the last 5 mile section was a nimble 20-25 mph, except for negotiating my way through one intersection that was under construction. Amazingly, I enjoyed green lights at every other intersection on the homestretch.

Tomorrow is going to be calm and amazingly cool, so DH and I are planning a long ride (about a metric century or so).

[skhill]

Where do ypu live? DH's family is in Frankfort, which is one of the reasons we do the ride every year, but I did it before I met him, so perhaps it was fate! It's a fun ride. I prefer Sunday's routes because they're less crowded. It was hot today though. Really hot! Mmaybe we'll see you next year!

I'm in Lexington, just a few exits south of Georgetown on I-75. And with the heat on Sunday, I'm glad I slept in. The heat was getting to me just mowing the lawn and working in the garden. But maybe next year!

Today my city had its annual bike celebration downtown. I did the fun ride, 10 miles cruising around town at very low speeds. There was one point where I checked the computer and saw I was going 7mph-- slower than I'll probably be running in our upcoming 10k that goes down that same street. It was an opportunity to work on bike handling skills, maybe. Then I racked up 10 miles more, just running around town, at much more normal speeds...

[indysteel]

We'll have to stick around some year for the Lexington ride. We typically go back home Sunday that we can putter around home all day.

Do you like living in Lexington? I have a fantasy during the Horsey every year about moving down there. DH grew up in Frankfort (which I don't particularly care for; it's a big yawn), but I do like Lexington. In four years time, my job situation could be such that it'll be a good time to make a break for it.

[7rider]

After 2 days of riding - hard for DH, not so hard for me - and swimming and a run this morning, we decided that today would be an easy "recovery" ride down into Rock Creek Park. The park is basically flat (well, a slight grade) and well shaded and usually about 10 degrees cooler than our more exposed routes, so on a hot summery day like today it would be perfect.

So we take our normal route down, and DH shocked me. "Do you want to ride the Capital Crescent into Georgetown?" he asked. DH asked me if we should ride a MUT through Bethesda to the Washington, D.C. waterfront. Us. Committed roadies. Riding a trail (some of which was gravel) with a 15 mph speed limit on a sunny, warm Memorial Day holiday. Although it's a popular bike commuter route during the week (not mine), I've been on that trail exactly once in the 8 years I've been here. I'm not generally a MUT rider. Way too crowded - and it was today. Tons of folks on bike, in-line skates, Trail Squirrels (little kids), joggers with their ear buds turned up way too loud. It was a mad house. But, DH - who drives a turbo charged sporty car - realizes that there's a time and place for speed, and for passing, and we took it very carefully and he groused about helmetless riders who passed us way too fast and with oncoming traffic. It was very surreal. But...it was cool, b/c we stopped at Cycle Life at the end of the trail - a uber-high end bike shop that has a Cafe/Juice Bar in it and he got a vanilla shake and I got a banana chocolate smoothie. Mmmmm... Certainly not the kind of ride I'm used to, but a lot of fun. But my brain was about to explode by the end from the heat. So not used to that yet.

[azfiddle]

Got in one more long ride for the weekend. Tomorrow's going to be a DOR- maybe Weds will be too-

My DH and I took advantage of the unseasonably cool weather resulting from a cold front that passed through. It was 100 on Friday, but only about 80 degrees today. We did a 65 mile ride, through a lot of semi-rural desert and hills south of Tucson, then came back up through pecan orchards and abandoned fields, in the (dry) Santa Cruz River valley, and through South Tucson, which fields much like being in Mexico. We stopped to enjoy ceviche and shrimp tacos from a mobile restaurant (serving out of a vending truck). They were delicious!

[grey]

DH and I did 50 hilly miles at the Horsey Hundred in Kentucky today, and we're doing another 50 tomorrow. It was a perfect day here for a ride. I'd really like to go back to doing the full century next year, but we just didn't have enough miles in our legs for it this year.

Some of my friends are doing that again today. Maybe next year I'll go!

[Catrin]

Headed out this morning before noon and put in 29 hot miles. If the weather had been more normal this spring it probably wouldn't have seemed so hot, I think this was only my 5th ride without vest, tights, or something similar.

Awesome ride though! I rode from my LBS and headed north into the country roads to check out some farms with reindeer and other exotic animals! I fully expect to be sore tomorrow after the trail maintenance activities yesterday and the ride this morning, but I do have riding plans if I am not sore.

Wind kicked my butt on the way back to my LBS though - AND I forgot to take food